KNOWLEDGE AND ATTITUDES TOWARDS AND PREVALENCE OF OVERWEIGHT AND OBESITY AMONG UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS AT UNIVERSITI KUALA LUMPUR ROYAL COLLEGE OF MEDICINE: A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY Introduction: Overweight and obesity pose significant health risks, affecting social and economic well-being and potentially hindering mental health and learning outcomes. This study investigated the knowledge, attitudes, and prevalence of overweight and obesity among undergraduate students at Universiti Kuala Lumpur Royal College of Medicine (UniKL RCMP), Malaysia. Methods: A total of 351 UniKL RCMP undergraduate students participated in this study. Descriptive analysis was used to evaluate the sociodemographic and educational profiles of respondents. The chi-square test was conducted to identify the relationship between the sociodemographic and educational profiles and the level of knowledge and attitudes towards overweight and obesity. Results: The prevalence of overweight and obesity was 25.4%. The majority of the respondents possessed a good level of knowledge regarding overweight and obesity (n=316, 90%). The respondents’ programme was significantly associated with their level of knowledge (P=0.001). Conclusion: This study provides important information to university authorities, students, lecturers, parents and other stakeholders in education and health sectors about the impacts of overweight and obesity on the physical, social and academic welfare of university students.

Background: Cross contamination of HIV is a real threat today. Dental treatment often includes direct contact with a patient’s blood and saliva, therefore dental professionals can be easily exposed to HIV microorganisms. Hence, it is essential to gain insight into dental students’ knowledge and attitude towards HIV patients. Method: A cross-sectional survey of 186 clinical year dental students (year 3, 4 and 5) in the 2015–2016 academic session at the Faculty of Dentistry, Melaka-Manipal Medical College (MMMC), Manipal University, Melaka volunteered to participate in the study. A self-administered questionnaire was used to determine their knowledge and attitude towards HIV/AIDS patients. Results: Among 137 respondents (females 74.5% and males 25.6%), 40.9% were Malay, 46.7% were Chinese, 10.2% were Indian and 2.2% were others. The majority had an excellent (41.6%) to good (56.2%) knowledge and only (18%) had a professional attitude. There was a statistically significant association of knowledge with gender (P = 0.009) and ethnicity (P = 0.024), However, no association was found between attitude and gender (P = 0.756) or ethnicity (P = 0.792), or between knowledge and attitude (P = 0.473) of dental students. Conclusion: Dental students’ knowledge was not significantly associated with attitude. However, knowledge was associated with gender and ethnicity, but no association was found between age and knowledge and between age, gender, or ethnicity and attitude.